Union President Linked To Possible Bullying Emails at Lew-Port

LPUT President Kevin Jaruszewski is pictured above in his classroom. A series of vile, violent and homophobic emails were sent from his official LPUT email address. A police report was filed, Jaruszewski declined comment and the Reporter wants to know who wrote the emails.

Considering recent initiatives taken by public schools to address bullying, it is nearly inconceivable to think a teacher would encourage students to act in this way.

But, as reported in a story on page four, sources tell us that Kevin Jaruszewski, a teacher and president of the Lew Port Teacher's Union, may have sent text messages to students who were, allegedly, ganging up in an attempt to remove a girl from the varsity basketball team at Lew Port High School.

Jaruszewski declined a request to comment for this story.

While we do not yet have all the facts regarding his alleged texts, or enough details to determine whether a case of bullying has actually occurred, the Reporter has seen, directly from the online Yahoo account of the person who received them, a series of disturbing emails, written in 2011 and 2012, that were sent from the Lewiston Porter United Teachers Union website and from the official union email address of its president, Kevin Jaruszewski.

That email address is president@lput.org. and the same email address appears below Jaruszewski's name in the union publication, the LPUT Advocate (http://lput.org/advocate/0912.pdf).

The disturbing emails - which could be certainly seen as bullying, and worse, were sent to someone that Jaruszewski apparently knew.

We are withholding the name of the person who received the vicious emails, at his request, to protect his privacy.
However, the nature of the emails were such that, on January 31, 2012, the recipient filed a complaint with the New York State Police.

The complaint was investigated because the emails explicitly make threats of physical violence. However, to date, there have been no charges filed.

These emails, sent from Jaruszewski's official union email address, paint a disturbing picture of a person who offers hateful invective, threats and in one instance a "homophobic" slur.

At first, we wondered if Jaruszewski gave his password to one of his 12 or 13-year-old students and allowed an immature child to send these out in the name of the union president.

But, on the other hand, since the emails are signed Kevin, and refer to information that relates to people and events one would expect would be known by Jaruszewski, we feel it is more likely these were written by an adult.

Here is a small sampling--and by no means the worst--of the perhaps 100 emails sent from the union president's email account.
(If you are offended by foul language, please stop reading now.)

March 18, 2011: “Call me a--hole and we can set up a time to meet in person.... you are a f--kin coward and a useless piece of s--t.... step anywhere near my property and see what happens.......I have many people who will take care of this with ONE phone call.”

Aug. 29, 2011: “...I'm gonna tell you one last f--king time.......YOU HAVE F--KING BOTHERED ME AT THE WRONG F--KING TIME.......YOU ARE A F--KIN DEADMAN WALKING.”

Jan. 12, 2012: “Mark my words A--HOLE...., you will f--kin die a slow slow slow slow death....”
Referring to the victim's deceased father and deceased best friend, on Jan. 17, 2012, from Jaruszewski's email account came this:

“F--K YOU F--KING CLUELESS LOWLIFE.... I'LL MAKE SURE YOU JOIN YOUR OLD MAN AND YOUR F--K BUDDY DINO.......THEN AGAIN THEY PROBABLY WOULDN'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU.......YOU F--KIN LOSER WHO HAS NEVER AMOUNTED TO ANYTHING....... GO BACK TO JERKING OFF AS I'M PROBABLY INTERRUPTED THAT.......YOUR A F--KIN JOKE AND YOUR GONNA F--KIN DIE......VERY F--KING SLOWLY”

On Jan. 24, 2012, the use of the anti-gay slur "faggot," appears, which is striking indeed considering it came from the teachers union and ironically, in most schools, attempts are being made to prevent this kind of anti-gay language and taunting behavior by the students.

The email read: “Kinda sick knowing you jerk off to your wild imagination...... But then again &@$ said you are a closet faggot...... Something about pictures he has......”

Again referring to the victim's late friend, who had a name similar to a character in the Flintstones cartoon show, on Jan. 27, 2012, the victim received this:

“Funny coming from a f--kin loser who f--kin wishes he had my job and my income......, you stupid jealous f--k......go shave your knuckles dumbass.......I'd said go play with your kid but that's not an option.........do you watch the Flinstones to remember Dino??????? To f--kin funny....... you poor bastard....I feel f--kin sorry for you.... Let's see: You failed to get a job as a teacher......you failed as a board member.....you failed at your marriage and now just jerk off......your f--kin dumb kid hates you and you have no rights.....you lived in your moms basement.....your only friend Dino is dead..... Shall I go on.?????.......you stupid f--kin loser......oh yeah I forgot to tell you.........oh nvm........you will find out soon enough”
On Jan. 28, 2012, the Teachers Union's email is again used to make what appears to be another death threat:
“Ever have a gun pointed at your head????............ YOU'RE ABOUT TO......I am done playing with you...... It is time......it is time......you wont know when and you won't know who.......goodbye......”

At the end of the day we are forced to ask, were these emails written by Kevin Jaruszewski?

Jaruszewski isn't saying.

So we are left with one puzzling question: If Jaruszewski did not write them, who did?

We hope that Jaruszewski will speak on the record as to whether he wrote these emails. If he didn't write them, we hope he will name who else had access to the official union website and his official union email account.

The Lewiston Porter School District's taxpayers and parents have a right to know since these emails, sent from the union's email address, constitute official union business.

Silence on Jaruszewski's part tends to discredit the vast majority of teachers who are noble and honest but who are also members of this union, who certainly would not, we believe, condone this kind of language or behavior coming out in the name of their union.
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Gay rights activists might be interested in why a writer, using the Lewiston Porter United Teachers Union’s President's email address, made use of the anti-gay slur “faggot,” in at least one email, especially considering that gay organizations work diligently to promote and foster anti-bullying programs designed to combat homophobia in public schools.

Last summer, certain gay rights activists organized an unsuccessful boycott of the Niagara Falls Reporter and demanded the firing of one of our writers after he questioned the appropriateness of the NHL’s association with the You Can Play promotion, which directs its attention toward protecting gay athletes from bullying in sports organizations.

One wonders how gay activists will react to a teachers union email being used to denigrate someone by calling him a "closet faggot."